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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Michael
and I are mostly grain-free, for a number of reasons - but that doesn't
mean we don't like the occasional treat. So, I wanted to work out a
simple recipe for grain-free cookies. I kept these simple, to get a feel
for how it might work as a base for
variations, and I think it does fine.

Unlike regular cookie dough, this
seems to need to be 'squished' together to form balls, and the finished
result is more crumbly - I think that is simply an aspect of working
with nut flours that have no elasticity from gluten. Other than that,
though, they were very tasty and I think could easily be jazzed up with
some dark chocolate chips, chopped nuts, raisins, a bit of cocoa added,
or whatever one might like.

Depressing the middle instead of using a
fork to flatten would also turn these into a good thumbprint cookie to
be filled with jam or lemon curd or the like.

The best part - as long as you're ok with the sugar from the honey, this
is simply good for you food - nuts and coconut oil! So you can enjoy
without worry.

Melt the coconut oil if it's solid, and combine with the honey and
vanilla in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the almond
flour, baking soda, and sea salt, breaking up any clumps (I use a large
whisk to do this). Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and
mix thoroughly to combine. It may still feel 'crumbly' rather than come
together - try to squish a small ball together and if it doesn't hold,
you may need to add just a little more coconut oil and honey to the mix.

Shape into small balls, about the size of a walnut, and place on a
cookie sheet that's been covered with a sheet of parchment paper. These
cookies do not spread, so use a fork, your finger, or the bottom of a
glass to flatten them.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

My journey with Harris Design Concepts
was a personal one. The service they were providing for the review was a
custom-made logo design. Anyone with a business knows that a logo is
one of the most important marketing pieces. It can literally make or
break your business.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

The other day, I made Ghee - a clarified butter popular in India, in which
the milk solids have been taken out. The remaining oil is shelf-stable
and has a high smoke point, and it tastes incredible on vegetables or
for dipping bread into.

I'd love to feel all impressive about this bit of DIY, but
this was seriously one of the easiest things I've ever done - and I'll
be doing it regularly now.

Here's all there is to it:

Get some good butter from a grass-fed source (Kerrygold Irish Butter is
good - I used butter from our local dairy). Put it into your slow
cooker and turn it on LOW without a lid (we want to melt this slowly,
not sizzle it).

Now leave it alone - no stirring, no fiddling with it - for about 8
hours. You'll see a white foam on the top, and this will either
eventually fall to the bottom and brown, or it won't - it'll stay on the
top and start to brown. Since it could go either way, don't use that
as your sole marker for whether or not it's done - instead, as you get
down to the last hour, be on the alert to the ghee itself starting to
darken - you want to try to stop it before then.

This is how mine looked after about 2 hours - and then I got busy with
other things (ehem *cross stitch* ehem) and forgot to take a picture of
it in the pot at the end. A lot more of the white milk solids came to
the top, and some of it fell to the bottom and browned. Most stayed on
top and got crispy, with browning around the edge of the pot.

So what you do at this point is use a slotted spoon or small strainer
and scoop up those milk solids. Set them into a bowl or something
because, if you're able to eat dairy, you are going to make an insanely
delicious snack of them in a minute (they taste like hot, fresh, butter
cookies!). Cook's privilege, baby - no sharing!

Lastly, I strained the ghee through a filter into jars - my pound of
butter game me a cup and a half of ghee. It is supposed to last a good
long time on the counter without becoming rancid (as long as all the
milk solids are gone), but there's no way this will be around long
enough to find out how long a good long time is.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

I
have to be honest, this is the most excited I had been to conduct a
review. I was absolutely ecstatic to receive my items from Thrive Life.
This is a company that I had never even heard of before. As soon as I
was presented with the option, I knew I wanted it. From what I could see
it was freeze dried fruits and vegetables. After contacting Julie Buckner, and she gave me more info about what they carry, I was blown away! Thrive Life is so much more than that!

Friday, May 3, 2013

I
wanted something a little spicy for May Day dinner - a fiery dish for a
spicy day! I also wanted to be able to use what I had on hand - this
dish is a recipe I've used before and it's a sort of hodgepodge of a few
different recipes, along with a healthy dash of 'use what I have on
hand'.

The only change I'd suggest is using fresh chopped tomatoes and a couple
fresh chiles, jalepeno or habanero as you like, instead of the Rotel,
just to keep it all fresh. That said, the Rotel worked just fine! Be
sure to use red lentils, not the regular brown lentils - the brown
lentils take a lot longer to cook, and never melt into the rich
creaminess of red lentils.

In a large, heavy skillet, heat a drizzle of oil over medium-high heat.
Saute the onion for about 5 minutes, then add the Rotel, ginger,
garlic, garam masala, curry powder, cumin, turmeric and salt. Cook for a
few more minutes. Add basil leaves, and stir until they wilt.

Stir in the sweet potato, lentils, coconut milk and water; bring to a
simmer, then cover, turn the heat down to medium-low and cook for about
20-30 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the lentils are creamy
and soft.

Uncover and tear in the spinach; stir, return the lid and cook for
another minute or two, just until the spinach wilts. Serve immediately,
over rice. Serves 4-6.